


A Midnight Clear

by Liondragon (Sameshima_Shuzumi)



Series: A Holly Jolly Fix-It [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergence - Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Christmas Smut, Gratuitous Smut, M/M, Memory Issues, Smut, Wordcount: 5.000-10.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-01
Updated: 2018-01-01
Packaged: 2019-02-26 02:51:22
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13226601
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sameshima_Shuzumi/pseuds/Liondragon
Summary: The smutty extension cord toA Merry Christmas.





	A Midnight Clear

**Author's Note:**

> Mention of underage sexual experimentation of the natural kind.  
> (Might revisit both these pieces for minor fiddling. This will be backdated to Boxing Day.)

Sam was the last one out the door, mostly so Natasha could clear his way back to the safehouse. Bucky was stabbing the dying embers of the fireplace, hungrily watching Steve's ass.

"Oh, and Steve?"

Stab, stab.

Steve added a little wiggle to his stance. "Yes, Sam?"

Sam pinched back a smile. "Get some."

"...in honor the season, I will take that in the spirit intended."

"Yeah, I know you will."

Steve was at his limit. "Saaaam."

"I've been telling you to get your groove back," said Sam. "Shame it's all classified."

"God, I hope my bedroom activities are classified." The stabbing stopped. "Stay safe, Sam."

"Standing next to you? Not a chance. But I'll keep a lookout. You too."

"Merry Christmas."

Sam punched his arm. "We're gonna make it a new year, Steve."

No sooner had the door shut than Bucky leaped on Steve's back. Steve whirled in the too-small-for-them kitchen, trying to get a grip on Bucky's thighs while Bucky tried to suck a mark into Steve's neck. It wasn't working; Bucky was nipping Steve's laughing mouth.

"James Buchanan Barnes!" Steve backed them into the living room. Where the hell was the bedroom?

"That's my name," Bucky said, clinging to him like an amorous crab. The arm's mechanical segments were undulating like a line of Christmas lights. "Wait," Bucky said.

Steve crouched so Bucky could snatch up the shield. "We secure," Steve asked, breathless.

"Kids tucked in, dreams of Hydra blowin' up in their heads." He _licked_ an hourglass on Steve's neck. Nat was keeping watch; hopefully she wasn't listening in, but... at this point Steve wasn't sure he cared. "Forward march, Captain."

They narrowly avoided breaking the door to the bedroom. They swore at each other, giggling.

Then the bed.

Given supersoldier proportions, the bed was little better than a manger, but it held, and that was all that mattered.

Horizontal kissing. Steve had forgotten how great that was. "I've never carried you before," he said, as Bucky threatened to tear his trousers off with his metal hand. "Even when you got nicked up on the battlefield, you wouldn't let me."

Oh, thought Steve, that was probably because he'd been hiding the effects of the serum. The thought evaporated like fine snow on his eyelashes.

Bucky sank into kissing him, so desperate that their teeth were clacking.

Steve pulled him off, trying to get enough space to get his shirt off. "What'sa matter, sweetheart?" he whispered, like they still lived cheek-by-jowl with neighbors and boarders. 

Bucky licked every bit of exposed skin as he shimmied out of his own pants, stopping just above Steve's heart. "The whole thing with the doctor's brain floating around, still. And now SHIELD messing around with Coulson's memories." He waited for Steve to get his neck free of the shirt. "What if my memories are written over? If I'm not the real article."

Steve reached over for the hem of Bucky's shirt, stretching it over his shoulders. "Are you for real about me?" Steve asked. "Was that... programmed into you?"

Both their shirts tore. So much for modern materials. Bucky kissed him, deep, rubbed his cheek against his like they were dancing without a floor. "I see..." He propped himself up to look at Steve, his hips writhing languorously out of his pants. "I see a guy who's trying to do the right thing. Won't quit for nothing. Quick to anger," he kissed him on the nose, "Quick to love," on the mouth, "Quick on the uptake." He pressed a kiss on Steve's brow. "Makes my heart patter a little quicker."

Steve's eyes were watering. He sneaked his hand to touch Bucky's chest. God, the metal cut so close to it. "Then that's all that matters to me." Steve flailed a little, not sure if it was the right move to stoke the building heat between them. "Hard to find people who see Steve, and not Cap."

Bucky tugged at his belt loops again, and Steve arched for him, thrilled to hear Bucky catch his breath. 

"And what if they thaw out the real Bucky?"

Steve stopped. "Then we'll have some s'plainin' to do." He kicked out of one trouser leg, and dragged Bucky to him, rolling them so they were both on their sides. They closed their eyes; if there was an original Bucky Barnes out there, if they were wrong about any of this... all they could do was pray for him. "Buck," breathed Steve. "You stayed away because you thought that would protect me. You weren't even sure it _was_ me. You've got a good heart. Same as the Bucky Barnes I knew."

Bucky's arms slipped around Steve. "It's too bad," he said. "I should've rolled your fine ass a year ago."

"Bucky!"

"We could've had a unhealthy relationship based on sex," Bucky rumbled.

"You need to get off the internet," muttered Steve. He rolled his hips anyway.

Bucky hissed. "I can only look up filth, otherwise Hydra'd might put a pin on me." He got a toe on Steve's remaining pant leg. Steve shivered as his foot rubbed against his calf. Bucky's prick was nestled on the crease of his hip and Steve was shaking, he was burning up.

"What if I looked up a, a porno..."

"Nah, they don't care if Cap's a filthy boy. Have you?" Bucky grinned. The trousers slithered off the bed. They were now totally naked.

"Tried to find someone slicking up." And he wasn't about to ask Natasha for help. He'd been half-hoping Sharon would get the hint from her surveillance and just slip him a URL, but that was a shade too far.

"Ooh, damn, they never show that part. Search terms are shit."

"Innit so?" Steve wrapped himself close. They fell into kissing. "...it's a shame. I hadda go through a whole tube of slick before I got the hang of—"

"Damn it, Steve," Bucky growled.

Steve tried to catch his breath. He couldn't figure out where to put his hands. This was like the best kind of simmering dream. "I don't remember being this attracted to you before."

"...but you were attracted to me."

"Probably," said Steve. He got pinched for that, and found his hands in Bucky's hair, carding through, soothing. "Yeah. Yes. Sorry. I just didn't think I had a _shot_."

Bucky's brow went supple by increments. "I like hearing that."

"Yeah?" Steve thought Bucky had a sweet smile. His eyes were a lot sharper, though, like they _could_ kill. Maybe that was from his serum. Or from the Soldier. 

"Yeah," said Bucky. In a tangle of hair and fingertips, he nuzzled into Steve's palm. "It's a new chapter. This time last year, I was so fucked up. And angry at all the holiday shit going on."

"Mmhm."

"Then after Christmas, more people were sayin' it was the end of the year... but they were also looking forward to the new one. Didn't fix everything. Did feel better. Making a new start."

Steve was startled when Bucky slid over to let Steve lie on the scarred left side of his chest. It wasn't uncomfortable; the shoulder-piece locked smooth to cradle the side of Steve's cranium. And, ah-a, Steve could thumb the groove of Bucky's neck, where his hair was a fine, sensitive fuzz. "Sam's always saying sooner or later the light comes on — that the last war was Before. You can leave it in the past. It'll always be a part of you..."

"Oh yeah." Bucky rolled his hip, once, questioningly. Steve's eyes fluttered shut; in answer, his other hand drifted down to cup Bucky's ass. Bucky chuckled. "For turning a page, this ain't too bad, huh?"

"More than I could've dreamed of."

"You know this might not last."

"I know," said Steve. He ran his palm down the length of Bucky's back. "This is gonna be rough, Buck."

With that, Bucky's motions went from lazy to wicked. "You're gonna say 'We've had rougher.'"

Sparked as he was, Steve would not be distracted. "Bucky. Don't worry about knowing me. You know me."

Bucky hooked an ankle and tried to flip them over. Steve was slow to react mostly out of deference to the poor bed frame. They grappled, letting out whimpers and hisses every time something sensitive brushed; there was the beast with two backs and then there was this steam engine on a steep grade, the metal arm venting in time with every expelled breath, chasing each other an inch at a time.

Steve braced the arch of his foot on a bedpost. His chin dropped and his spine turned to gelatin as Bucky sat up and took advantage of the opening with a tawdry smile and a wandering hand.

"Were you smaller?" Bucky whispered.

"...yeah." Steve managed. He did feel like he was chugging up a snowy peak.

"I keep tripping over myself," said Bucky softly.

"My fault," insisted Steve. Bucky wasn't the only one with the double-vision of Before and After. The Smithsonian had an exhibit on it, practically.

"No, it's not," said Bucky, acknowledging Hydra and all the rest. "Plenty of coal in our stockings, baby, it's no use. As I was sayin'?"

"Yeah?"

"You act like it. Not when you're being Cap. Right now. You wanna stick your knees in my gut, like you don't have all those legs trailing off there."

Steve was suddenly all-too-aware of his gangly limbs, except they weren't anymore. His nostrils flared; he just wanted the two of them to slot into place. "Sorry."

"Well, my problem-solving abilities might be rusty," Bucky snickered. "So try this on. If you wrap your legs around, you can fit real nice..."

Steve was clung to Bucky like a candle holder. "Golly. How about that." He locked his ankles nearly at Bucky's shoulderblades, and they both caught their breaths as Bucky and the pillows took their combined weight. "You want what's in your stocking, sweetheart?"

"Sure." Bucky swept his metal hand down the highway of Steve's back, and dipped right into the cleft between his asscheeks. "How's this? Okay?"

"Y-yeah," said Steve, shivering despite himself. "We weren't this talkative before."

"I thought you said we didn't do this?" Bucky didn't cease his explorations, the solid form and flexing plates on the edge of overwhelming — but the tone of his voice was dubious.

"We shared a bed," Steve was quick to explain. "And sleeping bags, and a coupla haylofts. Now that I think about it, by the time we hit the pillow we'd fall asleep."

Bucky observed him slowly rocking against the metal fingerpads, which were smooth one way and subtly grooved for a handgun grip in another. "So nothin' doing, huh."

"Well, now that I think about it, I could fall asleep with you anywhere, even when the shelling was bad. Early on the serum made me jumpy as a cat. I dunno if you remember..." Steve trailed off. He didn't want to ask about what Hydra had done.

Bucky was unruffled. "I don't, but I must've been the same. I was a sniper then, too? Then yeah, that would've been unusual."

Steve trailed all five fingers down Bucky's sculpted, bare chest, tracking the heat of their erections. That's when the memory bubbled up; Steve flushed. "There was one time when we, uh, touched ourselves in the same room. But it wasn't..."

"How could it not be sexual?" Bucky gave him about a tenth of a headbutt. 

" _Bucky._ I was coming out of a bout of fever. Really bad. I was a little hysterical that my pecker was gonna quit on me. I wouldn't eat my soup. Not a chance were we asking my ma. There were a couple of other friends there, too."

"Kink—"

"Don't you dare! We were kids! I was scared, and honestly I think you were all scared too."

"Ah. Did it work?"

Steve had to stop to think about it. "I dunno. I think I fainted, then someone made me eat the soup."

"Group masturbation not a turn-on. Got it."

Steve kissed him with some reproof, but it was a kiss, and failed to communicate much irritation. One of them was beading up with precome, and to counter that slick slide, enhanced muscles were finally starting to strain, defying gravity with thighs and arms and heaving abs.

Breathing quick, Steve said, "I'm takin' my time on purpose. Want it to last."

"Gotcha. Hey, can I ask...?"

Steve wasn't sure how to take a tentative Bucky, particularly when he'd built up this idea of him being an expert between the sheets. "Sure."

"I mean you don't gotta."

"Tell me what it is first. C'mon, promise I won't laugh." Steve wheedled, parting his gluteal muscles at the same time. "I told you my pecker story."

"I was there for it."

"You don't remember it. So it's an embarrassing anecdote."

"I'll 'anecdote' you," said Bucky, hooking two metal fingertips, threatening to penetrate. "Listen, would you... you think you could lick my balls?"

Steve's mind whirled. Most pressing was how they could get from this position to a 69 without breaking the ceiling light. "Can you get off on that?"

"We're gonna find out. Slow, like you said." Bucky laid them down, easing the tension of their positions. Steve caught on that he didn't have to do it right now. He was asking for later.

And now that the image was writhing in Steve's head, he was pretty interested in Right Now. "Yeah, I could do that." He grinned down at Bucky. "We don't have a tree, so..."

Bucky flattened his finger along the sensitive perineum. "Listen, _buddy_ , I dunno if you recall these balls are not metal too."

"Bucky...!" Steve cried, clinging with bone-crushing power, a bit embarrassed that Bucky was forced to recoil out of the way of Steve's shoulder, which punched into the mattress. On the outside he was tender against the glass-like locked wall of the metal wrist and forearm, and on the inside... "Bucky, oh. Oh. Oh. Oh. Oh."

"I was gonna tell you how pretty you are, despite your horrible lines—"

"They're not that bad," Steve gasped out. Had he been this sensitive before? The top quilt caught on his knees as he spread, and spread. Good Christ, if he'd tried this when he'd had scoliosis, he'd be gnarled up like tangled tree roots in no time. "My lines make you blush."

Bucky wasn't denying it. "Couldn't help noticing your metal fetish." He had better control of his voice, though not by much.

"It's not. That was weird."

"That's how it works."

"It's not a fetish. Though I do like your arm."

"It _is_ weird. I'm starting to give it due consideration, though. A little metal down there."

"Ow," said Steve, he who pictured everything. He had to look down to check that Bucky's dick was still... unchanged. "Bucky, no. I mean, aw geez, I'm not the boss of you but that just looks painful."

Bucky landed a kiss on the side of his eye. "I've got a high tolerance. Don't worry," he said, poking at the divot between Steve's brows. "It's to spice up you licking me all over, which you haven't done yet, so I can't decide till you start... ahhh."

Steve had him in hand.

"Wait, wait," said Bucky.

"Wassit?" said Steve from the vicinity of his earlobe.

"I forgot the second part of what I wanted."

Steve... rumbled. "The stores around here are closed, sugarplum, and we can't order gifts online."

"Cheeky," said Bucky, pleased. Steve felt warmer again. "I brought it with me. In my magic sack."

"I ain't got my tongue on your magic sack yet."

"Shaddap." Bucky must've been a pickpocket, because his bag wasn't anywhere near, and in a jiffy he was waving a silicone object that could've twinned with one of the glass icicle ornaments decking the hall. "I was hoping you'd lick me with a plug on."

"A..." For the first time, Steve was nervous. He eyed the toy, his hands idly pumping Bucky. "Does it vibrate?"

"Not this kind. It's part of a set. Like a sampler set. I can use it on me if you don't—"

"Oh no you don't." Steve claimed it hastily. "I'll try it. Wasn't sure how to bring up toys."

Bucky was delighted; Steve had clearly been waiting for someone to bring up toys since he'd joked with Sam about it earlier. "What, you haven't thought of some corny line for it?"

"You're such a jerk," said Steve reflexively. Too late, he realized Bucky might not remember the set-up to their usual punchline. "Hush, that's how I know you're Bucky. That hasn't changed."

"'Kay," Bucky absorbed that. "C'mere, _I'll_ show you how to slick up. If we meet for a quick one, you might need to prep ahead of time."

Steve moaned at the image of _that_ ; Bucky was laughing when he kissed him. Now there was a stealthy secret to keep under the costume. Steve did his best to present himself to Bucky. It wasn't even strange. "Won't slide out? Oh, that's what the plug's for."

"Yeah. Don't look at them till you've tried them, they look like widgets instead of ass toys. Bigger problem is if the serum tries to work it out. More natural lubes might work better. And stop thinking," he scolded.

"I can't help it." Steve blurted out. Bucky hadn't worked out his preferences in New York, or on the Western Front. That left—

Only Bucky could smack his ass and make it comforting. "It's like the arm, sweetheart. Even if they stuck me with it, it's mine now. Gift horses got some kick. Besides," Bucky added, "I'm touching your ass, pay attention."

"Sir yessir." Steve watched from under his legs as Bucky's cock slapped against skin, hard and proud and gorgeous. There was a squeak as Bucky warmed the lube between metal and skin. Steve wanted to turn around and kiss him for such thoughtfulness.

Bucky chuckled. "Funny thing, though. If you can stand some spasms, the serum will work out small plugs."

Steve's neck straightened. "No kidding?"

"So all the tipsheets say to use flared bases? We don't have to."

"I _knew_ there had to be a perk to this supersoldier business."

Bucky was going for a dollop of lube when he heard that, and he gave Steve a full-body check. "Get outta here, I'm still mad at you for that. I don't even remember the details. It's this indistinct—"

"Ah, that's peculiar," said Steve. He resisted the urge to adjust his hips. Then he did anyway. The metal hand felt like a callused version of the real item. "Good. But... ahhhhh."

"—annoyance, like a fly buzzing around telling me you were an idiot, once upon a time." Steve whimpered, sorry that he had lied about Rebirth, sorrier still that he hadn't reassured Bucky enough. Encouraged him to come clean about his own serum. "S'okay," said Bucky. He was here. They were both here. "Tell me. No runarounds."

"It's good," Steve attempted to report. "I played around a little, before. It's different when it's you. Your fingers."

"Here it comes. Tell me if it's too much."

"Ha," huffed Steve. "Yeah."

"Take deeper breaths. Quit forcing, try to relax."

Steve had dozens of fever-dream scraps of Bucky telling him how to breathe. He tried to drive himself into the present. "I got it. I got it."

"Attababy."

"Wow. I... gimme a minute." Every few seconds his body would spasm around the intruder, yet second by second Steve's whole body got hotter and hotter, spurred on by the stripped-down idea that Bucky had put this inside him.

Oh, oh _fuck_ , if he flexed just right, he'd see stars.

Bucky seemed to know just where he was. "I'll just get me and my balls ready. You want to see, or you want to get under the covers?"

"I want everything. Bucky." Steve could barely whisper.

"Hey, hey. You're good. You're all right. Breathe for me."

"Bucky." Steve had never pleaded in his life, not truly. He wanted to plead now. He didn't even know what for.

"Shhh," said Bucky. His right hand rustled through the small curly hairs around his nethers. Steve was captivated.

His mouth was watering. "I wanna fuck you."

"Do you, now."

"Yeah. After I get my mouth on you."

"I approve of this itinerary," Bucky pronounced.

"What else didja think of, Buck? I know you thought of some stuff." Steve squirmed around the plug. He'd fuck himself in midair if Bucky asked. "I feel strange. Wanton."

Bucky rubbed slickened hands along Steve's arms. "You're okay. Take it easy, baby."

Hm, Steve did know that look, as far gone as he himself was. "Spill it, Barnes."

"Thought about edging."

"Sounds... dangerous," said Steve dubiously.

"Nah. It's taking you to the edge, then pulling back. People beg."

"Yeah?" Was that what he was doing? But there was a glint in Bucky's eye that this was _more_ , that this was the kind of secret Natasha kept between her lips, from the 'homeland' where they'd been taught.

Or maybe he'd simply seen it on the internet. So helpful.

"Yeah. You can do it to me, too."

Something in Steve curled up. "I don't want you to beg, Bucky."

"Then we won't. But we should try it. You might like it."

"You like it? You like begging?"

"Not to people I don't like."

"You like me?" Steve was starting to tip over.

Bucky was starting to lean back, his pale eyes tracking him like a cat. "You're the best thing in my life, Steve," he said. "You are a fucking handful, yeah, y-eah, that's good, baby."

They'd both been sweating it out all evening, and Steve knew the smell as he lapped along Bucky's thighs. In this, Steve knew he was biased; the serum slowed the formation of malodor, ensuring that neither of them would smell rank unless they dived into a swamp. Or a swampy river. 

And there was the prize before him. Steve paused a moment to consider how he'd get one or both in his mouth. "May I...?"

"Sure, just kinda lift it outta the way. You can play with it if you like. Tug, gently." Steve anchored one hand on Bucky's thigh, and with the other wrapped around Bucky's dick, he was doing his best to suck on his balls. "Mmm. Yeah, you're tops, sweetheart."

Every time Steve rolled his tongue or moved his jaw, he could feel Bucky pulse and relax, but he didn't know what it meant. "I dunno what I'm doing."

"Just enjoy yourself. Don't worry so much, Steve, I can feel you worrying. I can even take a little teeth. Go to town."

Steve felt Bucky involuntarily jerk into the air. He did like this. Surrounded by Bucky. He'd thought a great deal about sucking his prick, but this was great, too. "You smell the same. But different."

"Howzit?"

Steve couldn't bring himself to pull away; his nose bumped Bucky's shaft. "I think you're different from back home, before you answered the call. Same from the war. After."

"Figures. You're talking to my dick, you know that?"

"I'm talkin' to your balls. Your dick's already standing at attention. Turnabout. Tell me."

"I'll try." Bucky took a deep breath. His cock twitched. "I like being... attended there. Nobody else pays it any mind. Any attention... there, baby, that's it."

"You wanna come like this?" Steve got up the nerve to ask.

"Give it your best shot," said Bucky, and Steve didn't know if Bucky knew how many times, and in how many ways Bucky had dared him, didn't know if he was aware how it turned Steve from the stubbornest man alive to a sure thing.

Steve started stroking him in earnest, gathering first one sack then the other with his tongue, tugging till Bucky moaned, trying to stuff them both in or delve behind to the same sensitive dip. It was challenging every time the package tightened up, when Steve figured Bucky really would come, then all the heaving and panting would slow up, and it was like Bucky was fighting it, like Bucky was fighting his best efforts.

That, and how now and again the plug would scrape against his prostate, were driving Steve out of his mind.

Apparently the serum had improved spatial reasoning, because Steve was sure he'd never jacked off any person's dick from this angle. Bucky was relatively silent, desperately as he was grinding into Steve's fist, but Steve could read him, it was easy with his face buried between Bucky's legs and his ears filled with the pounding of Bucky's heart.

Then Bucky's eyes snapped open, and his mouth parted, and hot spunk drizzled onto Steve.

Steve kept sucking. Bucky's left hand slid into his hairline, kneading dangerously, and while Bucky whimpered, he didn't close his legs either.

"Steve," said Bucky hoarsely.

"I could do this all day," Steve confessed.

"Good, I was about to ask," Bucky said. "Next time, slow." Then he pulled his knees up, and Steve bent down to lick back there, without Bucky having to ask. "Fuck, Stevie, you're a dream, mnff, ah, baby there...!"

The taste didn't register. It was Bucky's reactions, the insistence of his thrusting into Steve's blunt fingers, the heavy weight of the arm on top of Steve's head — silently telling him to stay down low. 

"How're you doin', sugar?" Bucky checked.

Steve registered how he'd spread himself. How heavy with need. He rubbed up and down the back of Bucky's thigh as an affirmative. He felt... easy. He'd never allowed himself to pick easy.

"Still wanna fuck me," asked Bucky.

Steve could've come to attention if he'd had a uniform on. Bucky's spend dribbled down his cheek, and he flushed, nearly painfully. "...how do you want...?"

Bucky considered it a moment. Their hands found each other, grasping and stroking. "Hands and knees too risky," he decided.

Steve swallowed. "Rubber?"

"No," said Bucky. They couldn't pass anything to each other. "It'll cost only a few minutes to flush your sloppy DNA."

"I'll have you know it's not that sloppy," said Steve, tucking a pillow under Bucky.

His voice was wavering.

"Steve, Stevie," said Bucky, and they locked fists together.

Steve would've liked to frame that moment as something special. Magical. And he supposed, later on, that it was rather magical to be staring into Bucky's eyes as he reamed him with nearly his full length.

"Oh God, holy..."

"Please don't sing," said Bucky, a touch frantically. "Tell me. With you. Is it splitting you?"

Steve sweated, rocking into Bucky like a piledriver, feeling the plug knocking inside him. "Both ways," he gasped, and Bucky nodded as though he knew what it was like to be fucked like that. "Burning up, you're so warm."

"We're both," said Bucky. "Warm. Hot poker," he snickered.

"Shush," said Steve. He didn't understand how he was forming words. He gulped a huge breath and tried to right the ship, trying to locate the exact angle. "I can't stop fucking you," he moaned.

Bucky kissed him. "Figure out how, hang on, a second," he said.

Steve's hips came stuttering to a halt. "Okay...?"

Bucky stared at him. His entwined fingers were squeezing and letting go. Then Bucky said, "To hell with it. I want to kneel." He squeezed terribly tightly. "Except. It might be safer if, if I saw you..."

With that, Steve rolled the shield on its side, like they were still hoop trundling on the streets of Brooklyn. It bounced on the floor, kept rolling, and as Steve gingerly withdrew, the shield hit the latch of the matching glass-front cabinet in the bedroom.

The door was spring-loaded, so its lock popped... just in time to catch the shield falling over, which pushed it open.

The shield spun on the floor like a coin.

Bucky bit back an indignant screech. "You're _unreal_. God damn it." He flipped over without releasing Steve's hand, and yanked him over to drape on his back. Steve was kissing his shoulder as Bucky looked up into the reflection on the glass panels. "Fuck me," he barked.

Even in the reflection, Steve's smug smile rose like the sun. "I'll get on that, honeybunches."

"F-fuck, fuck, Rogers." As shaky as Bucky was, his grip was riveted on. On hands and knees, Steve could get in deep, could hit and hit hard. Close as he was, Bucky wanted a good thorough dicking before Steve went off. 

"It's me, baby. I'll treat you good, Buck," Steve was saying.

"Better'n I..." Bucky had to catch his breath.

"No, nono," Steve said into the tendons of his neck. "You do deserve."

"To get fucked," said Bucky. "Lay it on me, Steve, I'm not gonna break...! Ah, shit, oh sugar, lean in, let me feel you."

And Steve held him close, skin-to-skin, pumping into him like a demon, scattering kisses like an angel.

"I've got you," said Steve, and he came.

*

He'd wiped the spunk off on Bucky's shoulder. That little punk.

Just for that, the DNA traces on the sheets would be Steve's job.

*

"You moseying outta there anytime soon?" said Bucky. Steve was a gigantic pain in the ass, but Bucky could hold this pose for hours.

"Could we..." And that sounded shy.

Bucky glanced up.

"...kiss like this?"

"Don't make me be the only one with a crick in the neck," warned Bucky. He craned around, and was rewarded with a mellow apple-cider kiss that clearly conveyed _practice for later_. "Mmm. Saw it on the internet, huh?"

"Only when they were speed fucking," Steve said, wrinkling his nose. "I couldn't understand how they didn't need dental work, after."

They lingered for a few more luxurious minutes, Steve massaging Bucky's side and lower back till he was more relaxed.

They hadn't watched a clock, once. It was better than all the gold in Fort Knox.

At this point, the plug literally dropped. Steve made a sweet, almost-hurt noise.

"Okay, okay," said Bucky. Time to get outta the pool. "I don't care what your kink is, I ain't your cockwarmer."

"'Course not, Buck." Steve eased out. The wet squelch was partly disgusting... and partly arousing. "Bucky, c'mere. Come on, that's hardly a wet spot."

Bucky twisted round and punched him in the side. Smoothly Steve reacted, getting a knee up, getting a hold of the inside of the metal elbow.

They both looked up at the velvet box on the nightstand, the one with Nat's gift. "Good," said Bucky. Better test now than get caught by the Winter Soldier later.

"You are a sourpuss after sex," said Steve. He tugged on the elbow till Bucky followed into Steve's arms.

"I default to grumpy. Coping mechanism," said Bucky. "I'm a whole woodpile of coping mechanisms."

"Pretty sure you're more'n that," said Steve. The sap. He was lying on the wet spot and was entirely too cheerful for a round of good sex. "Ah, hey! I got it."

"Got what?"

"Your codename."

The sheets rustled. "I'm gonna take a codename from 'Captain America'?" At Steve's pout, Bucky patted his cheek. "All right, all right. What is it?"

"Silver Slugger."

"That... is terrible. That's terrible. I love it."

"Yeah?"

"Sure. They'll think I'm Bryce Harper or somethin'."

"Who is Bryce Harper?" said Steve sharply.

"Haaa haahahaha, he's a ballplayer, you doof! In this very town."

"How do you know him?" Like the Winter Soldier was gonna do autographs with a big leaguer.

"I turn on the television, that's how. Don't tell me — you're still mad about the Dodgers."

"Aren't you?"

"One, they sold us out, two, they ain't comin' back to Brooklyn unless some villain snaps California off the map. Three, you are jealous."

"Don't say that," said Steve. He was holding tight anyway. "I like California."

Bucky tweaked his nose. "You appreciate it because it's a shiny disaster zone."

"The Nationals?!"

"I considered the Astros for a minute, but I couldn't find any rocket ship hats. Just..."

"Oh." The red star.

Bucky shrugged it off. "Nats're loaded but they ain't never won anything. My appreciation is superficial."

"Now I _am_ jealous."

Bucky flattened the prickles on Steve's jealous hair. "He's a baby! He's not even thirty years old. I like 'em older. Over ninety."

A smile fetched up on Steve's lips. "Didn't think you were looking for shared life experience."

"I'll take what I can get. Here." Bucky pulled out a slip of paper.

"What's this?"

"Receipt for the butt plugs."

"Buck."

"What? If they search your place, you need a receipt for them. Here, look, you need to remember the store—"

Steve made the mistake of reading it, carefully. "This is the name of a business?!"

"The encryption's not hard. Ask Natalya if you're confused by it. If you get caught with it, just say you wanted to hide it from SHIELD."

"Which I do. SHIELD is not finding out about this," said Steve determinedly.

"Unless they toss your apartment. I notice you're more worked up over the receipt than the part where you're taking those butt plugs with you."

Steve, to Bucky's surprise, didn't put up much of a fight. "They're... awfully handy. And they're not made of dead elephants."

"What?"

"We had butt plugs," explained Steve. "I mean, _we_ didn't, but I'd heard of 'em. They were probably made of wood or ivory. Ivory from elephants."

"Oh." Bucky looked like he was trying to work out if he'd procured a sex toy a century ago, give-or-take. "...Hydra's into poaching. Wakanda's trying to counter them, but they don't know where to start."

"Wakanda?" Steve glanced at the shield. "Maybe when this is over... Hey, if we end up with intel, they might be able to run the analysis on it. They're isolated, and if their tech is even half as advanced as rumored..."

"We get the tin, they get the opener." Bucky elbowed Steve with enthusiasm.

Steve elbowed back. It would take a lot of doing, diplomatically, but Steve had written a formal letter of apology about the stolen vibranium in his shield, so he didn't need an introduction. "It would certainly take some pressure off Tony and his systems. And it would address our network problems." Namely that they were porous as a sieve. "The Wakandan intranet wasn't connected to the world wide web."

"Speaking of opening up," Bucky said. He stroked Steve's flank, wondering when they could get going again. "I keep picturing you with those plugs. All alone with 'em." Oho, there was the color on his sweetheart's cheeks. "Didn't think you were the type. What are you thinking about? Are you overthinking sex toys?"

Bucky took a metal pinky and poked Steve's noggin.

"Nah. Yes. I'm not _over_ thinking."

"What's that saying? It's a question."

"Penny for your thoughts."

"That one." 

Steve rushed like he was afraid Bucky would find the emergency exit. Whoosh out the chimney. "Can't get drunk, can't brawl without hurting anyone. And this body is... it's still new to me, y'know? I know how prostate stimulation is supposed to work. Actually doing it... it's like plugging something in and having the whole block light up."

"Aw. 'Prostate stimulation'? Technical. Are you a bookworm, Steve? I like that."

"You used to tease me over sticking my nose in 'em."

"Well, it's a new century. Now you stick your nose on my sack, and I like my smartypants Steve. Hot and brainy." They kissed; and rolled around a bit, just to do it. Pillows that had been drilled to the mattress now tumbled off. "I know what you mean... our bodies. It's good to do something that feels good. That was... hard to wrap my head around, when I first got out."

"Something that doesn't hurt anybody," said Steve. He'd barely gotten the opportunity before he was racing through the streets of Brooklyn.

"I wish you could take a video of your face when you're working them in. Yeah, you wouldn't, I know — even if you wanted to, it's too high a risk."

"I could make a drawing of myself."

Bucky was caught unawares. "Y-yeah?"

"Yeah. Oh, damn, with facial recognition..." Steve frowned.

"Just your lips," Bucky requested. Then because he was greedy, he added, "Bit of your chin; right here where it's kissable. That's not enough points for a positive i.d. I'll know it's you. That'll do for my gift, baby."

"Helluva Christmas card." Steve brushed an errant strand from Bucky's face. That turned into dragging the back of his hand along Bucky's jawline, cupping Bucky's chin to draw him into a kiss. Horizontal was pretty good. "I don't want this to be our last Christmas," he whispered.

"It's a pretty good first one, though." Bucky grinned.

"Yeah," said Steve with a smile, and naughty squeeze, both promising more to come.


End file.
